Thursday, September 27, 2007

a ROCKIN' great time at Billetproof '07 (part four): 'jets and rockets on the hood"

(above) Hupmobile

Ok, I'm hardly the first to discover rockets and jets on the hoods of cars, but they sure are fun to monkey around with, first in your camera, then when you get to playin' on your computer. I didn't alter these much, just messed around with saturation and contrast for the most part. They are utterly fascinating to me, especially the one second from the top which picked up aspects of the paint and folded it into the emblem's shape. At once cat-like, and then when you take another look, bird-like. And the face itself is so wonderfully sculptural. The whole thing is sculptural, in fact. And then the shadows and angles of the shot, as well as the time of day you happened by, factor in as well.

-In my next blog I'll show you a resource I discovered which gives the years of these emblems relative to the makes. In the spirit of Billetproof, it could well be that the rodders and customizers did a little mixin' and matchin', so even if a particular rocket or jet may have decorated a Ford when it left the factory, it might have done a little migratin' subsequently. I'm sure there are people who've devoted a good part of their lives to identifying hood emblems, so I don't want to put my foot in my mouth here. Billetproof is all about re-invention in the garage.

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But I'll say this: doubtful that the Japanese ever thought to decorate with rockets and jets. Seems to me that's a fundamentally American thang.